Trick'd
by Kanna37
Summary: It's Halloween... and Kagome has spent months coming up with the ultimate scare. But will she actually manage to get Sesshoumaru with it, or will he be two steps ahead of her?


**Trick'd**

Disclaimer: Lawyers suck. Oh. Wait... sorry, wrong disclaimer. I do not own. There. But lawyers still suck.

A/N: This little story was kinda inspired by the Halloween Challenge over on Dokuga by D.S. Anno and Rikayu. See, since I'm mean and twisted, and_ love _scaring the hell outta people, this is something I'd do... if it were really possible.

---vVv---

Kagome snickered to herself as she watched Sango telling a scary story, trying to get a better reaction out of the group than Inuyasha had. It was an annual contest she'd started in honor of halloween - everyone in the group tried to do whatever they could to scare and/or otherwise frighten the others into heart failure. It was great fun, although it was mostly of the scary stories and jumping out at the others variety, it worked well enough.

Usually.

This year, however, they had the Western Lord himself traveling with them, and though he had not overtly gotten involved in the halloween mayhem, he had gotten a bit of amusement out of some of the scares... she'd noticed the very slight smirks, and once, earlier, when Shippo had managed to startle Inuyasha bad enough he'd fallen out of his tree, even a low chuckle.

Because of his presence, Kagome was determined that _this _year, she'd show all of them the fright of their lives. She was going to impress the daiyoukai if it was the last thing she did.

She'd been planning this for months, had been practicing ever since she'd first gotten the idea, and she'd finally gotten the hang of it - she had the whole thing down pat.

Now all she had to do was wait for it to get late enough, and for everyone to start getting ready for bed. Once the group fell asleep... well, needless to say, the 'trick' part of 'trick or treat' would commence.

She glanced over at Sesshoumaru from the corner of her eye, wishing like hell she could just stare at him - she'd do it for hours if she thought she could get away with it. He was the ultimate male - and it showed. No one else could even come close - not even his half-brother, her best friend and former love interest, Inuyasha.

Sure, the hanyou was hella gorgeous, and better than any other male she'd ever seen - except his brother. Oh, and their father was pretty hot, too, as she'd seen the time they'd fought Sou'unga. Seemed it ran in the family. But anyway, of the ones that were_ alive_, Sesshoumaru took the cake... and everything else, too.

As they'd traveled together this last eleven months, she'd gotten in so deep that she'd begun to understand what it felt like to drown... she sure as hell couldn't seem to breathe very well around him, that was for sure - and the funny thing was, she wasn't so sure anymore that it was all on her side.

Okay, so Sesshoumaru was about as expressive as cardboard..._ if _you didn't know what to look for. If you _did _figure it out, though, it was easy to see that he had just as much emotion as everyone else - he just had better control over that side than anyone in existence. But despite that, there were admittedly faint hints that he had a certain interest in her. She wished she could figure out how to get proof of that, but for now she would be content just to impress him.

She flicked another glance in his direction, and caught a quick look from him. She grinned inwardly. Oh, yes. She'd get in the best scare ever - no one else would _ever_ be able to top this one.

Not even Sesshoumaru.

There was absolutely no way.

---vVv---

It was time.

Everyone save Sesshoumaru had fallen asleep, and it was well after midnight, which meant that soon, Inuyasha would be taking over guard duty, leaving Sesshoumaru to go off and find himself a nice little spot to sleep in - as usual, _away _from the main camp.

Kagome had long ago figured out how to regulate her breathing and aura to fool her youkai and hanyou companions into thinking she was asleep. It was a good thing, too, especially now. She didn't want anyone to know that she hadn't been asleep the whole time.

Slowing her breathing even more, she dropped into a very deep trance, and then freed herself. She'd heard of out-of-body experiences before, but she'd never known that you could willingly initiate something like that, nor that you could actually interact with your surroundings when you did so, but she'd come across a scroll at the shrine about it one day, and decided to try it.

Needless to say, it worked... and now she was gonna use it to 'haunt' her friends.

Let the good times roll!

She shivered involuntarily as her awareness abruptly changed; no longer was she held down by physical limitations, and allowing her senses to range around her, she made sure no one was watching, and then let go, moving away from her body, and slipping right through the tree behind her. If her friends were looking, all they would see was a rather thick collection of what looked like mist.

A ghost, so to speak.

First up: Inuyasha.

She peeked out around the tree she was now hiding behind, and up into the branches of the tree he was sitting in. Usually, he'd be safe from her, after all, she wouldn't be able to get up into the tree, and she couldn't jump that high, either. But with this... well, when they said _free-floating_, they meant it.

Allowing herself to move up and into the cover of the trees, she floated casually along through the branches, moving slowly... so that if someone else caught sight of her, she'd be able to thin herself out so that they wouldn't be able to see her any longer.

Finally, she reached his tree, and looking down on him from above, she snickered inside her own mind. This was gonna be great!

She waited patiently for the perfect moment, in no hurry. After all, she had _hours_ to mess with everyones minds. Of course, that meant she'd be taking some caffeine pills tomorrow to stay awake, but it would be worth it.

Eyes trained on him, she watched as he began to stretch, and thought, _Ah-ha! Now!_

Flowing down the trunk, she manifested herself right in front of a _very _startled hanyou, letting him see her dark locks, and reaching out with pale, phantom hands as though to touch him... and almost _really _died with silent laughter as her best friend fell out of his tree for the second time that day, screaming in shock the whole way down.

Thinning herself out so as not to be seen, she shot back across the clearing and into her body... she had to 'wake up' with the others so no one would think anything odd about her sleeping through everything, and just as the others all jerked awake in startlement, she also sat up, looking around groggily.

"Wha--? Inu, what's wrong?" She was screaming with laughter inside - his face was white as a sheet, and things only got better as the others all choked and gasped with shock at the hanyou's actions.

Then Sesshoumaru appeared, and glanced at his stuttering brother with disdain. "Tell me, half-breed, why you feel the need to scream like a bitch? I see no foe, feel no danger near, so what is it that causes you to act so unseemly for a male of Taisho blood?"

"Sh-shut the h-hell up, Sesshoumaru! I just got ghosted, that's what's freakin' wrong with me!" Inuyasha was still breathing hard, and Kagome was having a hard time not letting all the hysterical laughter inside her soul out.

Miroku frowned and closed his eyes, casting his spiritual powers out around them, then shook his head and opened his eyes. "Well, Inuyasha, I sense nothing here now, so whatever you saw is gone - it's no longer here."

Sango just rubbed her eyes sleepily and sighed, then casting a glance at a now pissed off Inuyasha and his amused older brother, she shrugged. "Well, whatever. I'm goin' back to sleep."

Kagome nodded, and cast a quick glance at Sesshoumaru. "It's a good thing your brother sent Rin and Shippo back to his shiro with Jaken, Inuyasha, or he might be tempted to kill you for scaring Rin with all that girlish screaming."

Sesshoumaru glanced at Kagome, then back at his now_ severely _pissed off brother. "Indeed, Inuyasha. The miko is correct."

Glancing once again at the tiny onna in the somewhat rumpled sleep attire that she claimed was normal for her time period, he inhaled deeply, then moved away, heading back off for some privacy. Damned if the dainty miko didn't make him ache with desire just by standing there. It wasn't fair. No female should have such power over him, not a youkai female, and _definitely_ not a ningen one.

Unfortunately, the kami apparently hadn't been listening to his complaints about things, and it was too late to go back, because now, he didn't even want to. He just wanted her. And she had always wanted his brother. The kami - and his father - had to be laughing at the mess they'd made of his life right now.

_Laugh it up, _he thought, sourly. _ Laugh all you want, father_. _At least _I'm_ still _alive_._

Inuyasha growled with irritation, then, looking up into the tree he'd fallen out of with apprehension, turned his back on it and moved to a different tree before jumping up onto a limb and settling back. He looked down at Kagome as she opened her mouth to say something, glaring at her, and she grinned at him, but wisely chose not to say anything, and he huffed and looked away.

Kagome giggled to herself, and then lay back down on her sleeping bag, ready for round two.

Next up: Sango and Miroku.

She lay quietly, listening to the breathing of the others, waiting for the two to fall back into a nice, deep sleep. She snickered inwardly at their earlier sceptical reactions to Inuyasha's screeching. They'd be believers, themselves, soon enough. And then - she'd get Sesshoumaru. It really was a good thing he'd sent Jaken and the children back to his palace as soon as it began to got dark... but why had he?

Her brow furrowed as she thought about his actions. He hadn't given a reason for it... but then she shrugged to herself. Didn't really matter - it was just a lucky break for her. She certainly didn't want to frighten the kids into hysterics - this particular halloween prank was all for the adults.

She smiled as she realized that her two targets were now good and asleep, and once again, she prepared to leave her body - but this time, she would be releasing only about half of herself to wander, leaving enough of herself behind to be able to react when the inevitable screaming started. This way, the others would see her moving around, _and _the so-called 'ghost', at the same time - keeping them from knowing it was her until she was ready for them all to find out.

And find out they would. This was one prank she _wanted_ everyone to know she'd pulled.

_After_ it was over, of course.

Separating herself carefully, she winced at the strange feeling of being in two places at once. _Talk about double vision. _She had to concentrate a bit harder this time around - being in two places at once was a lot harder, and she didn't want to mess things up.

Finally, manifesting herself away from her body she slowly floated over towards her two friends, interested to see that in their sleep, they had moved _much _closer together and were practically curled into each other. She grinned at that - it would make things much easier.

Allowing herself to gather into a more noticeable form, she again took pleasure from Inuyasha's startled yell as he fell out of his tree for the _third _time that night, which promptly woke the two people below her... and as their eyes opened, she reached out with those same ghostly hands as if begging them for something.

The results were fantastic.

Miroku hollered as loud as Inuyasha was, and as Sango's eyes opened in shock at the frantic movements and shouts of her involuntary bed-partner and she caught sight of what was hovering above her, she let out a singularly piercing scream and tried desperately to get away.

Kagome roused her body, although sluggish, her body at least obeyed, and she sat up, rubbing her eyes and acting shocked at what she was seeing across from her. "What the---?!"

The only thoughts running through her mind at the time, though, were... _Oh my god, I can barely keep myself from screaming with laughter... I've got to hold it in! I can't give it all away _now _after so much hard work! I can't laugh - not for any reason! _

The 'reason' for the internal hysterics of the miko was causing havoc throughout the area, as she was sure the shouts and screams, and the sounds of bodies falling and hitting the ground, the cursing interspersed liberally through the caterwauling, and the flaring aura of an extremely annoyed daiyouaki was enough to disturb the entire region. She'd bet there wouldn't be another living soul, ningen_ or _youkai, within ten miles of this place come morning. It was absolutely perfect.

She allowed the part of herself that had been following a panicking Sango and Miroku around the clearing, along with Inuyasha, to dissipate and sneak back into her body - the same body that was sitting on her sleeping bag with an open mouth and a look of shocked surprise on her face. After all, she didn't want Sesshoumaru to see the 'ghost' yet. It wasn't his turn.

When he made his way into the clearing, he stared around himself at the chaos that was all that remained of a once orderly camp, and sighed.

_Ningens_. _And Inuyasha._

Shaking his head, he asked, "I suppose you are all going to tell me it was this 'ghost' again?" At his brother's nod, he continued. "And yet, as I have once again checked, there is nothing in the area that would suggest that such a thing is here. I think it is merely hysteria." He cast a superior look around the clearing at everyone.

"Apparently, the earlier, rather pathetic attempts to scare each other were too much for your delicate ningen nerves - which would explain why _I_ haven't been bothered by this so-called 'phantom'."

Inuyasha growled loudly at him, and Sango and Miroku sent glares his way. "Look, bastard, I don't know what the hell is goin' on around here, but we all saw it, right guys?"

At that, Kagome spoke up. This was _too_ good to pass up. "Uh... sorry, guys. I didn't see anything except you all running around screaming. Are you saying you all are seeing _ghosts?_" She let an incredulous note slip into her voice, and widened her eyes with disbelief.

"What the hell?! You mean you didn't see that thing chasing us?!" Inuyasha threw up his hands and glared at her, then turned and stared at the other two, completely ignoring his older brother, who was still standing in the middle of the camp, now looking highly amused.

"I don't know what the hell is goin' on here, but I say we pack up and go somewhere else. I don't wanna stay here."

Kagome got a stubborn look on her face at that, and Sango and Miroku looked at each other doubtfully. "No way, Inuyasha. I'm not moving camp in the middle of the night because your panties are in a bunch over some stupid 'ghostie'. I'm tired and I'm going back to sleep." She promptly laid back down and turned over, ignoring the highly irate form of the hanyou, and the rest of her friends.

"Goodnight. And if any of you see this ghost again keep the screaming to a minimum - I'm getting annoyed at being woken up every few minutes."

Sesshoumaru at that point had an extremely difficult time not bursting out laughing. In all his years on this earth, he'd never found controlling his emotions difficult at all - his personality really was rather stoic... until he'd begun spending time around this one, tiny, ningen onna. Now, he could barely keep a straight face at her antics.

Shaking his head ruefully, he looked at his brother, and the other two, and said, "The miko is correct. Go back to sleep, we are not moving in the middle of the night." Taking one last glance at the two ningens still lying in a tangle of limbs from where they'd fallen, he sighed, and walked off, intent on trying to figure out how his orderly life had gone so far downhill.

_It's all your fault, little miko. All of it. _

Kagome kept her eyes closed as the rest of the group once again settled back down, although she was pretty sure that it would be quite a while before the three would fall asleep this time, she kept herself occupied with re-running the visuals of her three friends running and screaming through the camp. She was absolutely positive she'd remember this night 'til her dying day...

Third and final play: Sesshoumaru.

Sesshoumaru walked back to the area he'd chosen earlier to relax in - he always rested slightly away from the others. His sensitive hearing couldn't handle his brother's snoring problem - although the ningens didn't seem bothered, he most certainly was. When he reached his chosen tree, he sat down at the base of it, folding his tall frame neatly into a comfortable siting position, then closed his eyes.

Now all he had to do was wait.

He smirked as he thought about the evening so far.

He had to admit, Kagome had indeed made this night one well worth remembering - he _knew _he would never forget the high-pitched, feminine sounding screams she'd coaxed from the hanyou with her 'ghostly' antics, nor would he soon forget the sight of the slayer and the monk all tangled up on the ground and panting in panicked fear of the 'phantom'.

He would have to hand it to the onna - she'd pulled off a masterpiece with this one - however, sadly, for her, _he _wasn't a fool such as the others were, and he was fully aware of what she was up to. He was_ also _aware of the fact that she was going to be 'visiting' him next - and he was bound and determined to take every advantage of that.

She had no idea what she was in for.

He'd decided that it was now or never - and if things went the way he hoped, they'd get a screaming finale to the night - although the screams wouldn't be due to fear - but anger and shock, at least on his half-brother's part.

If he could only get the onna to cooperate. He'd had a few hints that maybe his attraction to her wasn't only one-sided, so hopefully...

Hopefully, he could get her to agree that _his _grand finish to the evening was _much_ more entertaining than the one she had planned.

---vVv---

Kagome grinned gleefully, face turned away from the rest of the camp, she knew it was safe, since even though the others were now asleep, Inuyasha himself was still awake and watching everything with a gimlet eye - apparently just waiting for the ghost to show back up.

It was time for the final part of the evenings entertainment: the haunting of Sesshoumaru.

Kagome once again cut herself adrift from her body, this time removing all of herself. There was no need to leave any of herself behind this time. Stretching her essence as thin as possible so that Inuyasha would not see her, she floated complacently away from the camp, following the glowing trail of Sesshoumaru's youki to his chosen resting place.

As she entered the clearing he was in, she stopped, hovering inside the tree-line, she stared at him for some time, reveling in being able to get away with it without someone noticing... or so she thought. While she was busy enjoying the view, a certain someone was enjoying her _enjoying_ the view.

Sesshoumaru was aware of Kagome's presence the moment she left her body, just as he had been all evening, and he smirked inside as he waited for her to make her move. He'd played along with her plans when it came to terrifying the rest of the group, but now it was time for him to pull the rug out from under her.

_Come on, miko, do what you're going to do, so that I can do what _I_ am going to do. I've waited long enough, little onna..._

Kagome finally moved, flitting quickly towards the apparently sleeping Sesshoumaru, and just as she was about to pounce...

He opened his eyes, and staring straight at her, said, "What took you so long, miko?"

Stunned, she manifested herself fully, and growled at his pleased expression. "How the hell did you know?"

He raised a brow at her annoyed tone, a slight smirk gracing his face. "I_ always _know, miko - you should know that by now. It is not my fault if you have not paid enough attention to _your _surroundings to notice that I pay attention to _mine_."

Kagome closed her eyes, irritated beyond all get out. _All that planning...!_

Throwing the daiyoukai a disgusted look, she turned to go, when he spoke.

"Since I denied you the ending to the evening that you wanted, I would offer you another ending - perhaps this one will suit you just as well?"

She had frozen as soon as he started speaking, when he finished, she turned back to look at him, head tilted, and eyed him suspiciously.

"It all depends - what did you have in mind?"

"Go back to the camp and into your body, and wait for me to arrive - 'twill only be a moment."

She thought about it for a second, then nodded, and moved back to the camp. _This had better be good, Sesshoumaru - _real _good._

She made her way swiftly back to her body, and once back in it, she held her breath, waiting for she knew not what.

Sesshoumaru walked calmly into the middle of the camp, glanced at his brother with a smirk, then said, "Miko, come here."

Rolling over in her sleeping bag, she got up and moved over to stand before the youkai Lord. "Yes, Sesshoumaru?" Head tilted, curiosity flaring in her gaze, her eyes widened when a huge smirk passed across his face, and then her breath caught in her throat and she swore she really _was _dead.

Sesshoumaru glanced up at his astounded brother and grinned, then lowered his head and took his little miko's lips in a kiss that was an all-out, straightforward, conquering, hot-blooded, passionate_ kiss_...

And sure enough, that one thing was the highlight of the night, as Inuyasha fell out of his tree for the_ fourth _time, this time howling with rage, waking the rest of the camp and leaving everyone staring in shock at the couple in the middle of the clearing still locked in each others arms.

After several minutes, once he knew for sure that his tiny onna felt the same for him as he did for her, he pulled back just slightly, and with a small, cocky grin, asked, "Well, miko? Would you say that this ending suits you?"

Kagome stared up at him in awe, and with a shy grin, nodded. "Uh huh... but only if you kiss me again."

Completely ignoring his brother's yelling and everyone elses shocked looks, he proceeded to kiss her breathless again.

Kagome's last coherent thought for a while was...

_Kami! This is_ so _much better than the ending _I_ was hoping for... I don't care if the others _ever _figure out that I was the 'ghost'!_

---vVv---

Finally, after being kissed into a puddle on the ground, Kagome surfaced, breathless, flushed, and grinning from ear to ear. As Sesshoumaru pulled away a little, she glanced over his shoulder at the shocked and disbelieving faces of Sango and Miroku, and giggled. She could just imagine the look on Inuyasha's face, and she turned within the circle of the daiyoukai's embrace, placing her back to his chest. She noted how his grip on her tightened, and suddenly, a wicked little idea presented itself.

_Maybe this will get the baka to shut up and stop screaming..._

Closing her eyes, she immediately allowed herself to drop into trance, gathering herself, she literally _flung _herself out of her body, visibly, right at Inuyasha with a shriek...

_Or maybe not. Maybe it will make him scream even more._

The group watched silently as Inuyasha took off out of the clearing like a bat out of hell - and then, Sango and Miroku just shook their heads, and went back to bed.

Apparently, the night had been a little too long, and they were finally just 'scared out'.

Sesshoumaru shook his head, and picking his miko up, walked to her blankets and settled down with her in his lap. "Time for sleep, my onna. Enough adventures for one night."

Kagome smiled up at him brightly. "But you don't usually sleep in camp with us, Sesshoumaru. Why tonight?"

He rolled his eyes. "Normally I do not sleep here because of Inuyasha's incessent snoring. However," here he cast a very amused glance in the direction his half-brother had gone, "I think that you have taken care of that pest for the night. I doubt he will be back before morning... _late _morning."

Kagome cuddled up to his chest with a satisfied smile. "This was one hell of a halloween... one for the record books."

Sesshoumaru glanced down at her with a raised brow. Taking in a deep breath, he said in a rueful tone, "Indeed, miko. That, I daresay, is an understatement."

_If this is only an inkling of the trouble you are going to bring into my life, Kagome... _his thoughts trailed off and he closed his eyes, determined to enjoy the feel of his miko in his arms, and _not _think about the havoc she would undoubtedly bring to the Western House.

One last thought flittered through Kagome's mind before she succumbed to sleep, and an evil little grin flickered across her lips for just a moment.

_Next up... April Fool's day..._

---vVv---

Second A/N: Ya know... if I could pull off a prank like that, I'd be freakin' rich!

Amber


End file.
